Please Ask Me To Stay
by Saywhaaaat518
Summary: Book 7. Sequel to "Don't Ask Me To Leave". Draco and Hermione can't stop thinking about each other. And their love continues to grow while they are apart, but will that be enough to bring them back together after the war is over?
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer:**__ I do not own anything Harry Potter related. It all belongs to J.K Rowling._

**Prologue:**

There he was, the first time she'd seen him in months.

He looked scared, and sick, like he had been for the past year. She couldn't remember what he had looked like before this all happened. Was he ever healthy looking? She couldn't remember.

She felt horrible just looking at him.

No matter what, all she wanted was for him to be happy. And she could tell just by looking at him that he wasn't.

She just wanted him to feel normal again. That is, if he was ever normal to begin with.

She looked between Draco and Harry.

They were so similar. They both were thrust in to something they didn't want, neither of them really had a family, and they both had always been fighting for their lives.

Her heart ached just watching him. She had never really stopped loving him. She had tried, and tried, telling herself that they were total opposites. He was a Deatheater, she was part of the Order.

It would never be able to work out.

But she wanted it to. No matter how much she told herself she didn't want it, she knew that she did.

She had missed him so much. Never a day went by that she didn't think about him, and wish to be with him.

Hermione could not bring herself to stop staring at him. There were people close by that needed her, Harry and the Weasleys, but the only person she had eyes for right now was Draco.

He looked up, and his eyes flicked directly towards hers.

Hermione's breathe caught in her throat. She didn't mean to be caught by him. She didn't want him to know that she had spent this whole time in the Great Hall staring at him.

She watched as he pushed himself up and out of his seat and slowly made his way towards her. He looked angry.

_He's coming over here!_ Her brain screamed. _What do I do? _

But she had no time to think, because he was standing in front of her right now.

They were both silent as they looked at each other.

_**Author's Note:**__ Hey! So, this is the sequel to __**Don't Ask Me To Leave**__. I hope everyone enjoys it!_

_It may take me a lot longer to write this one, because I've been really busy with school lately. So, just bear with me. And of course, thank you for reading!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling._Chapter one

Hermione sat on her bed at the Burrow, staring out the window at a white marquee in the backyard.

Today was Bill and Fleur's wedding, a happy event for all who were not Hermione Granger.

She hadn't been happy since that fateful day at Hogwarts. The day that Professor Dumbledore was killed, the day that Draco Malfoy left her.

Of course, he didn't really leave her, nor did he want to leave, and Hermione knew that.

She understood it, probably better than anyone else.

But that didn't stop her from hating it. She hated the fact that he was gone, hated the fact that he was taken away from her so abruptly, right when their relationship was reaching new heights.

She still cried every single night.

No boy has ever made her cry like that before. No boy, that is, until Draco Malfoy came around.

He had changed so many things about her. He taught her love, true love, and he taught her that two people who were so different could come together over one thing, that one thing being, once again, love.

She missed him more than she'd ever missed anyone. Every single day she missed him more and more.

She had originally thought that, as the days went by, the hurt and the missing him part would soon start to fade.

But she was so wrong. It only grew worse with each passing day.

Right now, as she stared out at the marquee, she was thinking about their last night together.

"_The sky is so clear tonight. I don't think it's been like this in a while," Hermione said quietly. _

_Draco stared at her. "You pay attention to the sky?" he questioned._

"_A lot of attention. I watch the stars every night," she told him._

_Draco smiled at her and took her hand in his. "I do too. Every single night."_

_They were silent, Draco brooding over what was going to come._

_Hermione caught on to this and whispered, "It's a good omen, Draco, the clearness of the sky. It means good things are coming."_

_Draco shook his head, and held tighter to her hand._

"_It's tomorrow, Hermione," he whispered. _

_Hermione couldn't speak, or think. She knew what this was coming down to._

"_The… The thing you've been planning?" she questioned._

_Draco nodded. "Tomorrow night," he moaned._

_Hermione raised her free hand up to his cheek, and caressed it. "I guess this can't go on any longer then," she said sadly._

_Draco held her hand to his face. "No, I can't put you in any more danger."_

"_I've been hearing that ever since I became friends with Harry. Draco, I don't care about danger," she whispered._

_Draco smiled. "I know, and that's what I love most about you. Your inability to feel fear," he said._

"_Oh I feel fear, Draco, but not for myself; mostly for you. Just please, please be careful," she told him._

_He couldn't believe how supportive she was being. She wasn't telling him off, or screaming that she hated him for doing this. She was with him no matter what._

"_I'm more worried about you being careful," he confessed to her._

"_I'm always careful," she laughed._

_Draco leaned deeper into her hand. "I hate to see this end," he cried._

"_I do too, but we were left on this world just for each other, Draco, I can feel it. Fate will bring us back together," she told him._

_He closed his eyes. "I love you, Hermione, so much more than anything or anyone else in my life. I'm sorry for what I have to do," he whispered quietly._

_Hermione leaned in and kissed him. "You're forgiven. With me, you will always be forgiven. I love you, and I am always going to love you."_

She still felt that fate was going to bring them back together. There was a reason that they had gotten together in the first place, and she knew that it wasn't just for a quick relationship.

It was for something much much more than a quick relationship; it was for life.

A knock on the door disrupted her thoughts.

"Come in," she said, her voice hoarse.

Ginny entered the room. "Mum says the guests will start arriving in about half an hour, so we should get outside-Hermione, you're not even dressed yet!" she said.

Hermione looked down at her outfit. She was still in her pajamas.

"Oh, you're right, sorry, got a little distracted," Hermione told her.

Ginny walked into the room and sat on the edge of her bed.

"Hermione, are you alright? You've been a little off lately," she questioned.

"I'm fine, Ginny," Hermione said stiffly.

Even though Harry had ended things with Ginny at the end of last term, things were still a bit tense between the two girls.

"Look, I realize that we've drifted apart in the last year, but I want things to go back to normal, Hermione, and I'm sorry for whatever I've done," Ginny apologized.

Hermione sighed. Ginny was making this so difficult.

"I know, Ginny. Me too," was all she said.

Ginny smiled at her and stood up. "Do you want some help getting ready?"

Hermione looked around the room, then down at herself.

"Yeah, I suppose I could use some help. I need to be downstairs in half an hour," Hermione said, thankful for the help.

She put on her dress. It was lilac-colored and flowed down past her knees. She sat down at the vanity table in the corner of the room. Ginny got to work on curling her hair, and Hermione started putting on a light shade of make up.

Ginny finished curling Hermione's hair, and then swept it into a loose side ponytail.

"Thanks, Ginny," Hermione told her.

"Not a problem, Hermione," Ginny responded.

The two girls walked downstairs and out into the marquee.

Hermione was sure that the wedding ceremony was beautiful, but she couldn't bring herself to pay attention.

Throughout the entire ceremony, all she could think about was Draco. She fantasized about what it would be like if this was their wedding.

"…Then I declare you bonded for life."

An eruption of applause went throughout the entire marquee, and Hermione was snapped out of her daydreaming.

They stood up and the chairs disappeared, and a gleaming gold dance floor spread out beneath them.

Ron led Harry and Hermione over to a table with Luna Lovegood, and not long after they sat down he asked Hermione to dance.

"Come and dance," he said to her, taking one of her hands in his.

"What?" she asked, snapping again out of another daydream, this one involved her and Draco dancing at their own wedding.

"Come and dance," Ron repeated.

Hermione looked perplexed, but agreed, thinking that if she had something to do with herself, she would not think of Draco so much.

They started dancing, Ron pulling her close, and Hermione tried not to pay attention to his grabbing hands.

She looked out over his shoulder and off towards the woods when she saw it; a flash of silvery blonde.

She stopped dancing immediately, surprising Ron.

"Are you alright?" he asked, alarmed.

No, it couldn't be, he couldn't be here, could he?

"Hermione?" Ron pried.

"What? Oh, fine, I'm fine; I just got a little light headed. I'm fine though. Shall we continue?"

They continued dancing, and Hermione saw it again; another flash of silvery blonde by the edge of the woods.

"Ron, I'm sorry, I need a bit of air, I'll be back soon, okay?" she said.

"You sure you don't need me to come?" he asked, concerned.

"No, no, stay, have fun. I'll just be a moment."

And with that Hermione fled the marquee and walked as quickly as she could without actually running towards the trees.

She stopped at the edge of the shadows and whispered, "Draco?"

He stepped out from underneath the canopy of trees, and Hermione sighed happily.

He was wearing a pair of black dress pants and a white oxford, on which the sleeves were rolled up around his elbows. His tie, which she supposed was tied before he got here, was hanging loosely around his neck.

"Hermione," he moaned, and he made his way to her at once.

He took her in his arms and held onto her tight, sobbing into her shoulder. Hermione stroked his hair, and grabbed his shirt.

"Oh Draco," she whispered.

"Hermione, I love you so much, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, Hermione," he kept repeating.

"Sh, it's okay, Draco, please, I love you too. So much. It's okay," she whispered back.

He pulled away from her and looked into her eyes.

"I've missed you so much," he whispered.

"I've missed you too. I can't stop thinking about you," she whispered back, not wanting to speak too loud.

"Oh, Hermione, me either," he said, and then he crushed his lips to hers.

It felt so good kissing him again. Hermione was in a heavenly bliss right now.

They pulled apart for air, but neither one of them let the other go.

And then, it really hit her. Draco was here, standing in front of her, holding onto her.

"Draco, how did you get here? If someone sees you!" she started to exclaim.

"Hermione, relax. No one knows I'm here, and everyone's attention is on the wedding celebrations. You're the only one that wasn't paying enough attention to that to notice me," he said with a small laugh.

"This is so dangerous," she said.

"I thought you said you didn't care about danger?"

Hermione smirked. "Oh, I don't," she said before kissing him again.

They pulled apart again and Draco bowed to her.

"May I have this dance?" he asked while holding out his hand.

"Absolutely," she said to him, as she took his hand.

He twirled her around, making sure never to leave the shadows of the trees.

"You've gotten very good at dancing," he complimented her.

"Let's just say that I had a very good teacher," she replied.

The music slowed down to a soft waltz, and Hermione rested her head against his chest.

She didn't care how wrong or dangerous this was. Draco was with her, and that's all that she had wanted for the longest time.

The song ended and Draco pulled away from her a bit.

"I have to go," he said sadly.

"I figured as much," Hermione said, just as sadly.

"But I have something for you. Turn around," he told Hermione.

She raised her eyebrow at him before turning around.

She felt something cold touch her skin, and when she looked down she saw a beautiful silver necklace with blue topaz stones around her neck.

"Draco, this is beautiful!" she exclaimed as she spun back around.

"My mum gave it to me a while back, said something about giving it to the one I love. So, it belongs to you now," he told her.

"I love it," she whispered.

"So, now, when you're missing me, just put the necklace on, and it will remind you that I love you, and I will always be around," he told her.

She leaned her face up to his and gave him a soft kiss.

"I love you so much, Draco. Please, be careful," she said to him.

"You have no idea how much I love you, and how much you mean to me. You be careful too," he said.

And with one final kiss he walked back into the shadows of the woods.

Hermione wiped the few tears she shed away from her face and walked back towards the party, clutching on to the necklace.

"I miss you already," she whispered to the wind

_**Author's Note:**__ Hey! So, this is technically chapter one, and I hope everyone likes it! Let me know what you all think (:_


	3. Chapter 3

**Harry Potter is property of J.K. Rowling.**

* * *

**Chapter two**

Draco lied in his bed, the feeling of Hermione's lips still lingering upon his own.

He brushed his lips with the tips of his fingers. They still tingled.

He thought about how beautiful she looked tonight. She was beautiful to him always, but when she actually dressed up, she looked like a goddess.

It was strange how much he loved her. He would have never believed it possible for someone like him to be able to love. But Hermione proved him differently.

He didn't think that he was worthy of her love. He had never done anything to deserve her. He was always cruel and evil towards her, but she didn't care. She was able to put all of that behind her, and love him in return.

But now, on nights like this when Draco was alone in his room and thinking, he wished that she had never been able to forgive him. Things would be so much easier that way.

He wouldn't be up all night wishing that he could hear her voice. He wouldn't see her every single day when she wasn't actually there. He wouldn't have to worry about the next time he would see her, if he would see her, and if he would see her alive.

But deep down, he also knew that even if she didn't return his love, he would still act the same way.

"Hermione," he moaned.

The slamming of doors and pounding of footsteps could be heard several floors below him.

Draco sat up in bed and tiptoed towards the door. He opened it a crack, just enough to be able to hear what was being said below.

Voices were yelling, and they all blended in together. But one could be heard above all others. A woman's voice, high and cackling. "Itty baby Potter is going to have it in for him now! The Dark Lord would have gone easy on Potter if he had been caught tonight. But now, oh now, he'll just get it even worse!" Bellatrix Lestrange cried out, laughing.

The door opened again, and all of the voices quieted at once.

Draco could feel himself shivering, but not from cold, from fear.

"Dolohov. Rowle. Explain yourselves," a high, snake-like voice whispered. And even though he whispered, Draco could hear the Dark Lord's voice from up on the fourth floor.

"Potter, and his two sidekicks escaped the wedding. We didn't know where they went. But then we found them. They used your name, sire, and we found them with the taboo and a restaurant. We struck, but they struck back. We have no idea where they went, but we have people stationed at the Weasley's house in case they come back," Rowle explained.

There was silence for a few moment until, "The boy, where is the boy?"

"The…the boy?" Draco heard Lucius ask.

"Your son, Lucius, your son! Where is he?" The Dark Lord screamed.

Draco backed away into his room. "No, no, not tonight," he whispered.

He heard footsteps pounding up the stairs and then there was a bright flash of light, and his bedroom door slammed open.

"Come, Draco," Lucius said, his face livid.

"Father, no," Draco started to plead, but Lucius stumbled in to the room and grabbed tight to Draco's arm, and pulled him downstairs.

He placed Draco in front of the Dark Lord, and Draco cowered at the sight of it.

"Draco, Draco, Draco," he began, "Lord Voldemort is tired, and has no interest in cursing Rowle tonight."

Draco knew what was coming next. He could practically feel the Dark Lord's wrath all around him.

"Draw your wand, Draco," Lord Voldemort hissed.

Draco's hand shook as he pulled his wand from out of his pocket.

"I think, Rowle, the Cruciatus Curse will serve you right. Teach you not to call on Lord Voldemort when Harry Potter has escape once again!" he screamed, each word getting louder and louder.

"Draco, if you will," Voldemort said.

Draco bit his lips to keep the tears from coming. "Cruc-crucio!" he shouted.

Rowle dropped to the ground, his body writhing and loud screams erupting from his mouth.

"Enough, Draco," Voldemort said. Draco pointed his wand away from Rowle, and looked away, gasping.

"More, Rowle, or shall we end it and feed you to Nagini? Lord Voldemort is not sure that he will forgive this time…you called me back for this, to tell me that Harry Potter has escaped again? Draco, give Rowle another taste of our displeasure," Voldemort ordered.

Draco just stared at him, not wanting to do it again.

Lord Voldemort glared at him. "Do it, or feel my wrath yourself!" he screamed.

"Crucio!" Draco shouted. He looked into Rowle's eyes, and could practically feel his pain glowing throughout his own body.

This went on for what seemed to be days to Draco. He was getting tired, and was sickened by what he was being made to do.

"Good, good, Draco. Well done. How does that feel Rowle? Have you learned your lesson?" Voldemort hissed.

"Yes, yes sire," Rowle gasped.

Without another word, the Dark Lord left Malfoy Manor.

_**Author's Note: **__Sorry for the long wait everybody, but here's chapter two! Hope everyone likes it. I want to apologize for all of the misspellings and grammar problems in the last chapter. I thought I checked it thoroughly before I put it up, but I guess I missed some stuff. Sorry about that!_

_Thanks again for reading, and enjoy!_


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: Everything Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling._

* * *

Chapter three

"Hermione, Hermione," a voice called out to her. She knew who it was, even though she could not see him. It was so dark, almost pitch black, but her eyes were steadily adjusting.

_She noticed the fresh smell of pine trees and evergreen, and deciphered that she was in a forest. But how? How did she get here? _

"_Hermione, stay with me," the voice called to her again._

"_Where are you?" she questioned._

_And then, there he was, standing to her right, a light shining down upon him. He held out his hand towards her, and she stepped towards him, but stopped almost as quickly as she started._

_Two more voices starting calling out to her._

"_No, Hermione, come with us."_

_She looked to her left and saw Harry and Ron with their arms outstretched towards her. _

_Her head whipped back and forth between Draco and her two best friends. Each time she looked towards Harry and Ron, more people were standing behind them, until Lupin, Tonks, the Weasleys and other members of the Order of the Phoenix were with them. _

_She looked back towards Draco and not only saw him, but his parents, Professor Snape, and Bellatrix Lestrange standing with him. His hand was still outstretched towards her. _

"_Hermione, we need you," the Order called to her._

_She made a move towards them, until she heard Draco speak._

"_Hermione, I love you," he said, his voice sad and full of love, and that was all she needed to hear._

_She ran to Draco and grabbed his hand. She had chosen._

Hermione woke up with a start, breathing deeply, and felt numbness in her right arm. She looked down and noticed that her hand was locked in Ron's grasp.

She slowly pulled her hand out of his, trying hard not to wake him. He had a vice-like grip on her fingers, but she finally got her hand out and he rolled over onto his other side, snoring loudly.

She found it hard to go back to sleep, even though she knew that it was too early in the morning to wake up just yet. So, instead of falling asleep, she thought about her dream, and the fact that she awoke holding Ron's hand.

She knew that she had only been holding his hand because she had grabbed Draco's in her dream, but Ron would not have been able to know that.

She hated that Ron still loved her, and that he had no idea that she felt only brotherly love towards him. She could feel his advances gaining speed, and she dreaded the day when he would finally confess to her his feelings, and she would have to deny him.

She felt awful about it, but her heart belonged to Draco Malfoy.

Her thoughts turned to the dream, which was still fresh in her memory, and she replayed it in her mind, not missing any detail.

To her, it seemed that there was some hidden meaning.

She could tell that most of it meant that she would choose love over friendship, Draco over Harry and Ron. That much was obvious.

But would she really? Would she really choose Draco, who she had really only known for a matter of months, over Harry and Ron, her best friends, who she had know since she was eleven?

She shouldn't have to choose between them, she told herself.

If Harry and Ron were really her best friends, and if they really cared about her, they wouldn't make her choose between them. They would accept Draco. But she knew, deep down, that if she had to make the choice, she would always choose Draco.

But did that mean that she was choosing dark over light, evil over good?

Hermione, without meaning, let out a strangled cry. No, she would never choose evil!

She stopped thinking these thoughts, not wanting to be too overwhelmed by a small dream, and listened to the stillness of the room.

Besides her own, she heard only one other set of steady breaths.

Hermione sat bolt upright in bed, and looked over to the spot on the floor where Harry was sleeping.

Or rather, had been sleeping, because he was no longer there.

"Ron! Ron!" she cried while smacking him over the head with a pillow and he jumped awake.

"What? Wassamatter?"

Hermione was already out of bed and heading towards the door.

"Harry! He's gone! He's not here!"

She rushed out of the room, Ron hot on her tail, and started looking and searching throughout all of the rooms in Grimmauld Place.

Ron started out in the basement and Hermione took the first floor.

She stopped at a door that bore the words "The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black 'Toujours Pur.'"

She slowly pushed open the door, knowing without knowing that this was an important room.

"Lumos," Hermione whispered, and the room fluttered with light. She sent a spell of fire towards the gas lamps, and the room was finally lit up enough to see.

All four walls were covered in the Black family tree. She stepped in to the room and looked closer at all of the names, forgetting about her search for Harry for a moment.

Sirius was nowhere on the tapestry. But there were a few burn marks scattered around the walls, and Hermione could only imagine that he was underneath one of them.

Upon further inspection she saw that Andromeda Tonks was also burned off the wall, and she remembered that Tonks was related to Sirius.

Hermione's eyes widened as she saw the name of the family to the right of Andromeda.

Narcissa Black was linked to Lucius Malfoy, and a single vertical line linked them to their son, Draco Malfoy.

Hermione could not stop staring at the picture of Draco. He looked so young, and so mean there. She could remember that was how he always looked, before he received his task from Voldemort.

The picture brought back memories of the days when he would harass her, and call her Mudblood. A few tears were shed at the memory.

She did not like to think of those days, not anymore, not when she had such good memories to think of.

And those memories moved to the front of her brain. They were as vivid as if they just happened yesterday.

She ran her fingers lightly over his face, and closed her eyes, pretending that he was really right in front of her, and that she could really feel him.

"Oh, Draco," she sighed, "I wish you were here."

_**Author's Note:**__ Well, here's chapter three. Thanks again for reading and I hope you like this chapter! :)_


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine. I wish it was, but it's not.**

* * *

Draco was sitting in the Great Hall, looking around at all of the scared faces of the first years, and the angry, determined faces of the older students.

This was not Hogwarts. This was Hell. The Deatheaters had taken over, and Draco knew that mercy would not be given to anyone.

He wished, though he would never admit it to anyone, that Dumbledore was still here, that Voldemort had never grown stronger, and that the school was not in danger.

As he thought this, his eyes wandered towards the Gryffindor table.

He could see little Weaslette, Longbottom, Finnegan, and the rest of the normal Gryffindor crowd, but three people were missing, one of whom he would give anything to see right now.

Draco rested his head on his fist and stared at the spot at the Gryffindor table where she should have been sitting.

He hadn't seen her, or heard from her, in nearly two months. He had no idea where she was, or if she was safe, and that tortured him.

He was not sure if he would be able to make it through an entire school year without her. An entire school year that he was sure to be filled with punishments, tortures, and pain.

But not all of that was physical, and resulted from the wrath of the Death Eaters. No, it cut much deeper than that.

He was being punished for all of his wrongdoings in life, and his punishment was not being able to see Hermione.

His own personal torture was the visions and the fantasies that he would always have of her, and knowing that those fantasies would never come true. She was gone, taken away from him just like that, and he was unsure if she would ever be back, and if they would ever have a future together.

And the pain of not seeing her was becoming too much. His heart stabbed just at the thought of her. There was a constant ache that settled in his chest and was with him, reminding him day to night of the love that he was sure was lost.

Of course it was lost. Hermione was gone. She might not even be alive. But even if she were alive, she would have come to her senses by now.

He was not the right one for her. He would never be able to give her anything. He was just the son of a Death Eater. He thought of the reputation that she would get for being with him, and he did not want to give her that. He was not good enough for her.

And as much as he hated to admit it, someone like Potter would be much better for Hermione.

He had stability, and if he were to end this war, he had many good things going for him. Potter would be able to take care of Hermione in a way that Draco never would be able to.

And the thought, his eyes filled with tears, and he looked once more towards the Gryffindor table.

Without her being in this room, in this school, nothing was going to feel right.

The feast ended, and Draco had not paid attention to any of the speeches. Already the school had a tension running through it.

Draco led his group of friends out of the Great Hall and down to the dungeons, staying silent and brooding the entire way.

"So, Draco, looks like it's going to be a boring year. We'll have to find some new people to make their lives Hell, seeing as Potty, Weasel, and the Mudblood are-" Blaise began.

But he was unable to finish his sentence.

"Don't call her that!" Draco roared as his spun around, causing Blaise to stop dead in his tracks, his mouth wide open in surprise.

Draco caught his mistake at once and said, "I mean, Mudblood is getting old. We need to find something new, something even worse."

He shook his head and continued walking.

Once inside the cold and dark Slytherin Common Room, Draco said a quiet, "Good night," to everyone and walked up to the solitude of his dormitory. Hopefully everyone would know not to bother him now.

"Hermione," he moaned, as he fell face first onto his bed.

The door creaked open, bringing a blast of cold air in with it.

"Draco, what's up with you?" Blaise's voice said.

"Nothing, Blaise. Just tired is all. Not feeling so well," Draco answered, his voice muffled by his pillow.

"Well, buck up. We've got big days ahead of us. The Death Eaters run Hogwarts now, and that we means we do too," Blaise told him before walking over to his own bed to undress.

Draco pulled the curtains around his bed, not bothering to undress, and lay there, looking up at the ceiling.

"_I wish they didn't run the school. I wish they weren't here. I wish none of this had happened. Most of all I wish Hermione were here. She would know what to do,"_ he thought.

As if on cue, Hermione's face appeared behind his eyelids.

"I don't know what to do Hermione. I'm scared; for once in my life I am scared. But not for myself; for you. And, surprisingly, for all of the other Muggle-borns. You've opened my eyes and shown me that I do not have to choose the ways of my father. But I wish you were here now, to help me defy these Death Eaters, to help me be stronger. I love you. I miss you. Please come back."

**Author's note: Wow, I am so sorry that it took me so long to update! I've been on a major Harry Potter writer's block for a very long time, and it took me up until tonight to finally know what I was going to write for this chapter, so I hope you all like it, and it doesn't disappoint you.**

**I'm finding it very hard to write this story, and I need to work on posting chapters quicker, because I've kept you all waiting for a LONG time, and I am so sorry!**

**But thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy**

**:)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs solely to J.K. Rowling.**

* * *

Things were going all wrong. Nothing was right. It wasn't supposed to happen like this.

Ron had left them. Voldemort found them. Harry's wand was broken. And they were no closer to finding any more Horcruxes than they were before this all began.

Hermione was taking the first watch now, and as she did so, she stared at the Marauders Map, which lay open in her lap. But she looked at only one name in particular: Draco Malfoy.

He was in the Slytherin dormitory now, where he spent most of his time.

She watched his name float around the map every night. But she couldn't help it. She missed him so much, that even looking at just his name made her feel better, though it could never fill the empty spaces in her heart.

"Mischief managed," Hermione choked out, tears splashing down onto the map as it wiped clean of Hogwarts.

She couldn't bear to think of him any longer. All it did was bring her more and more pain.

"Draco," she moaned, and then she sobbed, and she could not stop sobbing.

"Hermione? Oh, Hermione, please don't cry any more," Harry said.

He had come out of the tent and quickly rushed to her side, wrapping his arms around her.

"Ron doesn't matter any more. He's gone. And it makes him stupid for leaving," Harry quickly told her.

"Harry, it…it's not Ron. I'm not crying over Ron," she whispered.

"Then who?"

"Draco Malfoy," she uttered in just barely a whisper.

Harry pulled away from her.

"Who?" he questioned.

"Harry, please, please don't hate me. I have to confess to you right now. And let me first tell you that nothing you say will change my mind."

She ushered a few more tears before looking Harry straight in the eye and saying, "I'm in love with Draco Malfoy."

Harry was silent, staring at her. He couldn't grasp what she had just said. Did he hear her right? Hermione was in love with Draco Malfoy? No. That couldn't be.

But then he looked into her eyes, and saw that she had to be telling the truth.

Harry sighed. "Well, start from the beginning."

So she did. She told him all about finding Draco crying in the boys bathroom, and how from that day on their relationship grew. She told him how he did not want to have any part in the killing of Dumbledore, and how he did not want to be a Deatheater.

"I love him, Harry. I really really love him," she cried.

"Hermione…how can you be sure that it wasn't just an act? You're positive he's just not…using you?" Harry asked, choosing his words carefully, afraid that Hermione would be angry with him for asking.

But she wasn't angry. "Harry, I'm sure. I'm positive about his feelings for me, and his words, and his actions. He doesn't want this, but his father chose his life for him, the way that your mum chose your life for you by sacrificing herself," she told him.

Harry leaned back and let out a sigh. He ran his hands over his eyes and then looked at Hermione.

"Harry, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," she cried.

"Hermione, for what? You can't help whom you fall in love with. I understand that much. I guess it's just going to take some time for me to understand why the person my best friend fell in love with was Draco Malfoy," he told her.

"So, you're not angry?" Hermione asked, a little scared at what he would say.

Harry laughed. "Of course not. If anything, I'm happy that you've found someone who can use their whole heart to love you and give you everything that you need," he told her with a hug.

"Oh, Harry, I was so…so scared that once you found out…that you would hate me, and never want to speak to me again. I thought you would think that I betrayed you," she whispered.

"Hermione," Harry said with a chuckle, "I could never think that. You are the most loyal friend I've ever had. The most loyal person I've ever met. You would never betray me. If Draco Malfoy is what's best for you, then I will never object. And I could never, ever hate you. But if he does anything to hurt you, even in the slightest, I will hurt him right back. You shouldn't have worried about it."

"I know, but I'm so glad I finally told you, and that I don't have to hide it anymore. I'm so happy…I could dance," Hermione said, her words genuine.

Telling Harry had made her feel a bit better, though the emptiness was still settled in her heart. But now that she had one less thing to worry about, her spirits had truly lifted.

"Well then, let's dance," Harry said as he pulled Hermione to her feet.

He led her back into the warmth of the tent, and started spinning her around. They danced and laughed, feeling light hearted.

Oh the strangeness of love, and the things it could bring!

***

Draco was pacing the Slytherin boy's dormitory. The door was locked, keeping everyone out. He just needed to be alone.

Lying on his bed was an old and withered library book. He had snuck it out of the Restricted Section of the library. It held for old and deep magic, and it lay open on his bed.

He paced the room, thinking. This was his only chance of being able to see her. And though she wouldn't be able to see him, it was still worth it. He needed to see her, at least just a glimpse.

But would he be able to handle it? Was he strong enough for this? Or would seeing her, just for a few passing minutes, send him over the edge? Was it better for him to stay away from her, would that make it easier? Would seeing her again make it harder to forget?

Draco groaned and practically flew over to the book. He had to see her. There was really no argument in that. He needed this.

He ran his fingers over the aged page, the one that would give him what he needed, the one that told him exactly how to see her.

There was no spell, only strong emotions and tricky wand movement, but Draco could manage. He had strong emotions building up inside of him, and there wasn't a spell that was too tricky for him to perform.

So, he studied the spell and what exactly he needed to do until he had it completely memorized. Then, he slowly got up from the bed and stood in the middle of the room.

The spell said for him to think of the person he wanted to see. That was easy enough. She was all he could see.

He closed his eyes, and immediately Hermione's face flooded the backs of his eyelids.

"Hermione," he moaned, and then he swished his wand in a peculiar twist through the air, and he was soaring, spiraling out of the dormitory, and flying through the air. Of course, he wasn't really leaving the dormitory, but that's certainly what it felt like.

When Draco opened his eyes, he was standing in the middle of a tent. He looked down at his body, which was strangely transparent and flickering. He looked around himself and saw who he was looking for.

His heart broke. She was happy. Her face was broken out into a beautiful smile as Harry Potter danced her around the small tent.

Draco's heart wrenched at the sight. So, this was what had happened. She didn't want him anymore. She had the Chosen One now. She found someone else.

Draco's sobs were not quiet, and he didn't try to stifle them in any way. He was surprised that Hermione couldn't hear him, that she couldn't feel how close they were, and that she was destroying him.

He could feel the magic of the spell fading, the book did say something about it only lasting for a few, very short moments, and suddenly Draco was standing in the middle of the Slytherin dormitory again.

The sobs had not subsided. He slid down onto the floor, and wrapped his arms around his knees, holding them tight to his chest to keep his heart from breaking free of his body all together.

"Hermione," he cried out, his voice full of pain and misery, before blacking out and falling to the ground.

**Once again, I am so so so sorry for the long wait. I don't understand why I'm having such a writer's block, but I would say it's worth the wait. I promise that I will go as fast as I can to get this story finished, and if you all just stick with me, you won't be disappointed. **

**Thank you times a million for reading and sticking with me! :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** I did take some quotes right out of the book here. They don't belong to me. JK Rowling came up with them, I just need them for my story.

* * *

They were dead now, all of them. The path leading up to Malfoy Manor was like a trail straight to Hell and painful torture. Hermione was scared. For one of the first times on this search she was terrified that there was no way of escape. Harry could not protect her now.

But as she thought this, she also thought of Draco. This was his house. Was he here? Would she see him? Seeing him might make death okay for her, knowing that he was safe and alive was all she wanted.

They were pushed and kicked up the hallway into a high ceilinged drawing room, well-lit from the large glass chandelier above them.

And he was there, Draco, sitting in an armchair, staring directly at her. Even in this moment of death Hermione's heart raced when she saw him. The feeling was still there, as strong now as it ever was.

Draco looked more frightened than she ever remembered seeing him. His eyes met hers, and she could see water welling up in his.

"They say they've got Potter. Draco, come here," Narcissa Malfoy ordered.

Hermione didn't realize that the Death Eaters had been having a conversation. Everything seemed to stop the moment that she saw Draco.

Draco slowly and shakily got up from his chair. He could not tear his eyes away from Hermione. His biggest fear had become a reality: Hermione had been captured.

She stared at him, but there was no pleading in her eyes. He knew that she was aware that he couldn't do anything, even though all he wanted was to save her.

"Well, boy?" Fenrir Greyback, the werewolf that had caught them, asked, causing Draco to jump out of his skin and peer into the face of the boy he knew to be Harry Potter. How could he get them out of this?

Draco stared at Harry, who avoided his eyes, then glanced at Hermione. He hoped she understood that there was nothing he could do.

"Get her out of this," Harry whispered, his voice very low and his lips barely moving.

"Well, Draco? Is it? Is it Harry Potter?" Lucius demanded.

Hermione held her breath. This was it. What could he do to save them? She knew that no matter how much he wanted to, he wouldn't be able to. And she understood the reason why. 'I love you,' she thought.

"I can't…I can't be sure," Draco answered.

Hermione could hardly stop her mouth from hitting the floor. Did she just hear what she thought she heard? Was he trying to save them, even if it meant more danger for him?

"Draco, come look properly. It could be the scar. What do you think?" Lucius growled, grabbing Draco's upper arm tightly and pulling him closer to Harry.

Hermione flinched at the look of pain on Draco's face. She hated Lucius for what he put his own son through.

Draco looked at Harry again, closer this time.

"I don't know," Draco said, pulling out of his father's grasp and turning his back on Harry.

What was he doing? He was shaking from head to foot with fear. This was suicide. But his Hermione was in danger. His Hermione, that's all he could think about. She could very well be killed tonight if he gave them up.

"What about the mudblood, then?" growled Greyback, and as he said this the Snatchers whipped the three teenagers around so that Hermione was standing face to face with Draco.

"Wait," said Narcissa. "She was in Madame Malkin's with Potter last summer. I remember. Her picture was in the Prophet with his! Look, Draco, isn't it the Granger girl?"

Draco's heart stopped as he was pulled close to Hermione's face. Their eyes locked and Draco just about forgot his own name. What was he supposed to be doing? Was someone talking to him?

"Draco, is it her? The Granger girl?" Lucius questioned, giving his son a hard shake.

"I…uh…maybe…yeah," he whispered.

Hermione gave him the slightest, most unnoticeable of nods, telling him that she understood. This was hard for both of them, but he was doing the right thing.

"Then, that must be the Weasley boy!" Lucius shouted, clearly excited that Harry Potter had been captured and brought to his own home.

Just then, the door to the drawing room slammed open and pure evil in the form of Bellatrix Lestrange walked in.

Draco started shaking again. At least before, Hermione had the tiniest chance of escaping this awful fate. But now, the chance was shot out the door. Bellatrix would never let them get out alive.

She started speaking and asking questions, getting all of the details about what was going on, but Draco could hardly understand her. He felt like he was going to pass out, and a whirring noise blocked his ears as if he was going through a tunnel.

Draco locked eyes with Hermione, and he could tell that she was terrified.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry," he mouthed to her.

She gave him the slightest smile and nodded. "It's alright. I love you," she mouthed back.

How could she say that to him? When he was going to get her killed, how could she still love him? How was she so brave at a time like this? She must know that death was coming, how could she even be thinking about love right now? Draco's admiration of her grew just that much more.

"I love you too," he whispered.

"STOP!" Bellatrix shrieked, and Draco tore his eyes away from Hermione's to look at his aunt.

"Do not touch it, we shall all perish if the Dark Lord comes now!"

She was staring at one of the Snatchers, who held in his hands a glimmering sword, which Draco recognized immediately. That was the sword of Gryffindor, it sat behind the Headmaster's chair in his office. How did Potter get it? And why did he have it?

Bellatrix started stunning all of the Snatchers as she tried to get the sword from them. She then moved over to Greyback.

"Where did you find this? Snape sent it to my vault in Gringotts!" she shouted at him.

"It was in their tent," Greyback answered.

Draco didn't understand what the big fuss was about this sword. But this distraction gave Hermione a little more time to stay alive.

"Draco!" Bellatrix shrieked, and Draco jumped out of his stupor and stared at his evil aunt.

"Move this scum outside. If you haven't got the guts to finish them, then leave them in the courtyard for me," she ordered him.

But Draco didn't move. He didn't want to leave Hermione alone in this room with all of these Deatheaters.

"NOW!" Bellatrix shouted, and he did as he was told.

With one last look at Hermione, he levitated the Snatchers out into the courtyard.

As he did this, he thought of ways in which he could help Hermione escape, but he couldn't think of anything. When he came back, Potter and the Weasel were moved, but Hermione remained.

Bellatrix had her by the hair, her wand was pointed directly over Hermione's heart.

Hermione locked eyes with Draco, right before Bellatrix shouted, "CRUCIO!"

Hermione screamed and writhed in pain. It was all Draco could do not to jump on Bellatrix and rip her to shreds with his bare hands. He could feel Hermione's pain ripple through his own body.

"Tell me where you got that sword," Bellatrix asked her calmly. She lifted the spell off of her, and Hermione stood there, the only thing keeping her from falling straight to her knees was the fact that Bellatrix was pulling at her hair. She looked up at the evil witch who was holding her and glared.

"CRUCIO!" Bellatrix shouted again, and again Hermione screamed, the sound reverberating off of the walls, and running through Draco's body.

"I'm going to ask you again! Where did you get this sword? Where?" Bellatrix screamed.

"We found – we found it- PLEASE!" Hermione screamed, tears rolling out of her eyes. But no matter how much pain she was in, she would not give up their secret.

"LIES! You filthy little Mudblood, I know you and your friends were in my vault at Gringotts! Tell the truth, tell the truth!"

"CRUCIO!" she shouted again, this time without waiting for an answer.

Draco almost screamed with Hermione. Watching her in so much pain and not being able to do a thing about it was tearing him apart. He bit down on his lip, hard, to keep from shouting along with her.

"What else did you take? What else? Tell me the truth, or I swear I shall run you through with this knife!" Bellatrix screamed, placing her knife harder against Hermione's neck.

"No!" Draco shouted, as he saw a tiny droplet of blood form around the blade.

Bellatrix paused, and turned to face her nephew.

"What did you say to me, Draco?" she growled.

"I think she's telling the truth," Draco whispered. Hermione was shaking her head at him, telling him to stop now while he had the chance.

"You think this filthy little Mudblood who associates herself with dirt such as the Weasley's and Harry Potter is telling the truth?"

Draco nodded at her. "I think if she wasn't telling the truth, then she wouldn't be enduring this pain," he told her. He knew that it was an absolute lie. Even if Hermione was lying, he knew that she would never give up her friends, so she would take all of the pain that came with it.

"Is that so?" Bellatrix said, her voice low and deadly.

Draco just stood there, his eyes glaring in her direction.

"CRUCIO!" she screamed, pointing her wand at Draco.

He bit his lip again to keep from screaming. This was not the first time that he had the Cruciatus Curse put upon him. He doubled over in pain, but he would not fall to the ground. He would not let Bellatrix defeat him.

"Do not ever disagree with me again," Bellatrix whispered. She then turned her wand on Hermione, and silently put the curse upon her. Hermione screamed in even more pain. She was becoming weaker, and weaker, her body was close to collapsing. She had never had to deal with this much pain before.

"How did you get into my vault? Did that dirty little goblin in the cellar help you?" Bellatrix continued questioning her.

"We only met him tonight! We've never been inside your vault. Please! It's a copy, a fake, it's not the real sword!" Hermione sobbed.

Draco couldn't take his eyes off of her. Watching her be tortured was worse than being torture himself. He could take any physical pain, but he could not stand this.

Hermione, I'm so sorry. Forgive me for being a coward.

And a coward he was. How could he just stand there and watch as his love was tortured. How could he not do anything to help her? He hated this life, hated having to pretend to be something that he was not.

"Draco, go fetch that goblin. He can tell us whether the sword is real or not," Lucius ordered him.

Draco froze. He did not want to leave Hermione alone with these people.

"Go!" Bellatrix shouted, and she pointed her wand at him, cursing him again.

He shook in pain, and as soon as she lifted the curse, he walked down to the cellar. Maybe Potter would be able to escape and save her…

"Stand back. I'm coming in," Draco said as he got down there. He pointed his wand at the cellar door and it opened with a click.

Draco walked in and searched for Harry.

"Draco, save her. Do something, anything," Harry pleaded as soon as his eyes met Draco's.

"I wish I could, Harry. I wish there was something I could do. But I can't. And it's killing me, just as much as it's killing you," he whispered before grabbing the goblin's arm and taking him upstairs.

"I'm sorry, I don't want to do this. But I have to," he apologized before bringing the goblin into the drawing room. "Lie. Tell them it's a fake. Get her out of this," Draco pleaded with the goblin, but the creature gave no reply.

"Ah, perfect, now we will have the truth. Poor little Mudblood, going to be exposed as a liar. CRUCIO!" Bellatrix shouted one last time, and Hermione finally fainted from the pain.

Draco could hardly keep from running towards Hermione and getting her out of this place. He listened intently as Bellatrix questioned the goblin.

"Is it the true sword?" she asked.

The goblin was studying it, grasping it in his hands. He glanced in Draco's direction before saying, "No. It is a fake."

Draco couldn't keep from letting out the breath that he was holding in surprise. The goblin actually lied. He lied to Bellatrix Lestrange. And from the look on Bellatrix's face, he was going to get away with it.

Thank you.

"And now, we call the Dark Lord." Bellatrix pressed her forefinger to the Dark Mark on her arm.

Draco's own mark prickled and tingled on his arm. The Dark Lord would be here within the minute.

"I think we can dispose of the Mudblood now. Greyback, I did promise. Take her if you want her," Bellatrix said.

"NO!" Draco shouted.

But his shouted was drowned out by another, longer and louder scream.

Ron Weasley burst into the drawing, followed closely by Harry Potter. They started shouting spells at the Death Eaters. Draco quickly followed, shooting his own spells at his fellow Death Eaters, but making it look as if he was aiming for Potter and Weasley.

"STOP OR SHE DIES!" Bellatrix screamed.

Draco's head whipped around, only to see Bellatrix holding up an unconscious Hermione, her knife again held to her throat.

"Drop your wands. Drop them, or we'll see exactly how filthy her blood is!" Bellatrix ordered.

"I said, drop them!" she shouted when neither Harry or Ron put down their wands.

"All right!" Harry shouted, quickly letting the wand that he held in his hand drop to the ground.

"Good. Draco, pick them up. The Dark Lord is coming, Potter. Your death is very near," she leered.

"Now, you will all watch as Greyback finishes off the Mudblood. Your actions deserve a treat, Greyback. Take the girl," Bellatrix told him.

Greyback smiled, his lips pulling back showing his rotted teeth. Draco shook with fear. This was it. What could he do?

Then, as if in answer to his prayers, the crystal chandelier above them started trembling, and with a creak and a loud jingling, it began to fall. Bellatrix ducked out of the way and threw Hermione to the ground, at the same time that Draco pounced towards Hermione in order to protect her from the falling glass. In doing so, the glass cut at his face as the whole thing landed on top of Hermione.

He watched Weasley dive past him and into the rubble to pull Hermione out from underneath it.

Harry ran over to Draco and grabbed at the wands.

"I know you tried," Harry whispered.

"You finish it. Get her out of here," Draco whispered back as he pretended to wrestle Harry for the wands.

"Will you be okay?"

"Don't worry about me. Get Hermione out, please," Draco pleaded, and he let go of the wands, allowing Harry to grab the wands and point them at the werewolf, who was still trying to get to Hermione underneath the chandelier.

Draco watched as Harry grabbed the goblin and Dobby the house elf, who had caused the chandelier to fall in the first place, and he saw from the corner of his eye that Bellatrix had chucked her knife at them as they disapparted.

He then watched as Ron disapparated with Hermione in hand, thankful with every fiber of his being that she was alive and she would be taken care of.

Bellatrix screamed in anger, right as the Dark Lord entered the Malfoy Manor.

There would be Hell to pay. But that didn't matter to Draco. He owed Potter his life, because he had saved Hermione, who was his life. Hermione was safe, and that would get him through whatever torture awaited him and his family now.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ So here it is, after much time as passed, the next chapter is finally up. I am so, so, so sorry for the very long wait. But I finally got rid of my writer's block and managed to get this chapter written. The problem is, I know exactly where I want to go with this story, but I just don't know how to get there, and it's going to take time. But I beg you, just stick with me, it will get finished._

_So thank you again and again to everyone who has been reading, and who hasn't lost faith in me. Please, let me know what you think about this chapter. I know it's very long, but the chapter in the book was also very long. Again, thank you so much for waiting so long. And please, enjoy :)_


	8. Chapter 8

They were safe at Shell Cottage now. Dobby had just been buried, and Hermione sat in the room that Fleur had given her, crying. Fleur let her borrow a nightgown of hers, and Hermione was grateful to actually be in comfortable clothing while she slept for once.

Her body was ice cold, even though the room in which she sat was lit up and warm from the fire that Bill had set. She was chilled to the bone, and awfully tired. She pulled the comforter from the bed and went and sat on the ground next to the fire, wrapping the thick blanket around her.

She wrapped her arms around her knees and rocked back and forth. She kept replaying the events of the night over and over. Walking into Malfoy Manor, seeing Draco, being tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange, Draco risking his life by telling Bellatrix to stop. She couldn't believe what had happened.

She heard voices outside of her door.

"Ron, I need to speak to Hermione." That was Harry's voice.

Ron had been standing guard outside of her door all night, not letting anyone come in to disturb her, which was a bad choice. She wanted company right now.

"Harry, let her rest. She's gone through enough. What do you have to say to her?" Ron questioned, angrily.

"I just need to talk to her, Ron. I won't hurt her; I'm her best friend for Merlin's sake!" Harry exclaimed.

"Let him in, Ron!" Hermione shouted.

The door creaked open, and in walked Harry, closely followed by Ron.

"Alone please, Ron. I'll be quick, and then you can get back to your guard duties and I won't bother her again," Harry said, clearly annoyed at his friend.

"You're not bothering me. I need the company for a while. We'll be done soon, Ron," Hermione told him.

Ron was clearly not happy with this, but he obliged his best friend's request and stepped outside, shutting the door behind him.

"Muffliato!" Harry said, pointing his wand at the door at the same time that Hermione pointed her wand at the door and locked it.

Harry walked over to Hermione and kissed the top of her head before sitting on the ground next to her.

"You were amazing back there, Hermione, coming up with that story when she was hurting you like that," Harry praised her.

Hermione just shrugged, sinking deeper into the warmth of her blankets. Harry wrapped his arms around her and rubbed his hands against her back, creating friction.

"You know he tried to save you, right? You know he loves you," Harry whispered.

Hermione nodded, tears spilling out of her eyes.

"I know. I don't want him to, Harry. I wish he didn't. I saw tonight how far he's willing to go to keep me safe. Harry, he shouted at Bellatrix to stop. He told her that he thought I was telling the truth. He back talked to her, the most evil witch in the world. She could have killed him!" she exclaimed, tears taking over once again.

"Hermione, sh. It's alright. It's over now. That's a good thing, Hermione, the way that he tried to protect you. It shows how much he cares about you, and how he would throw himself in harm's way to protect you, no matter how dangerous that harm may be. He proved to me tonight that he really has changed, and Hermione, I'm going to fight even harder against You-Know-Who now, because I see that it's possible for change, and there is still hope," Harry told her.

Hermione looked up at him. "Really?" she asked. Harry nodded in response.

Hermione threw her arms around him. "Oh, Harry!" she sobbed.

"Sh, Hermione, it's okay. Don't lose faith in him. You need him, and he needs you," he told her.

"I just wish I could talk to him, and tell him how much I love him, just so he knows," she said.

Harry pulled away from her and looked at the fire. "Maybe you can…" he trailed off.

"What do you-" she caught sight of him staring at the fireplace. "Harry, no, it's too dangerous," she said.

"Hermione, what's life without a little danger?" he asked with a smile.

"Oh, don't you think we have enough danger!" she exclaimed.

"I'll come back at midnight with some floo powder. Maybe by that time your trusty guard might be asleep," Harry said with a laugh.

Hermione laughed along and grabbed her best friends hand. "He's a little too protective, don't you think?"

"When are you going to tell him?" Harry whispered, becoming serious once again.

Hermione sighed. "I don't know, Harry."

"You know how he feels about you, don't you?" Harry asked.

"I do, and I don't want to hurt him. But I know that he won't be as forgiving and understanding as you are," she explained.

"Hermione, there was nothing to forgive. And Ron's a bit of a pig head, but I'm sure with time he'll come around," he told her.

"I'll wait until after this war is over. We have too much over our heads now to think about silly emotions," she said.

Harry stood up and walked towards the door. "Midnight, don't forget. You're a right bloody mess when I have to wake you up," Harry said with a laugh.

Hermione grabbed a pillow and tossed it at Harry. He ducked and removed all of the spells from the door, and walked out of the room, laughing as he did so.

Midnight came around and Harry snuck into Hermione's room with a tiny pouch.

"Your guard is sound asleep on the living room couch," Harry told her.

Hermione was already sitting by the fire. "I can't believe we're doing this, Harry. It's so dangerous."

"Even if they do catch us talking to him, they can't be able to tell where we are," Harry told her.

"But what about Draco?" she whispered.

"If I know Malfoy, and I think I do, he'll have his room completely warded off with spells so that no one can enter while he sleeps. Draco is just as scared as we are Hermione. His house is a Deatheater zone. He needs one room in the house to be his own, so he's going to lock his room with every spell that he knows. We're doing this, I have to talk to him too," Harry told her before sitting down in front of the fire.

Hermione moved next to him as Harry as he tossed a handful of floo powder into the fire and said, "Draco's Room, Malfoy Manor."

The flames whirred green and Harry and Hermione stuck their heads into them. They stopped whirring and they were able to see into a room. It was dark and gloomy, and directly across from the fireplace was a bed, in which a person lay, fast asleep.

"Harry, I don't want to wake him," Hermione whispered.

"Look how peaceful he looks… I can't imagine Draco Malfoy looking so… not evil," Harry whispered back.

As if on cue, Draco sat up in bed. He looked around the room, bewildered. "I could have sworn I heard voices," he said. Then, he noticed the fire, and the two heads floating in it.

He jumped out of bed with a frightened yell and ran over to the fire.

"Hermione?" he whispered.

She nodded as a huge smile broke out across her face. Harry slipped out of the fire for now, the two of them needed a moment.

"How did you… what are you… I love you," he said, completely in awe at how she could be in his fireplace right now.

"I love you too," she sighed.

"You have no idea how long I've waited to hear you say that. I miss you so much, more with each passing day," he told her.

Hermione reached out of the fireplace and grabbed his hand. "I miss you as well."

He took her hand and placed it against his cheek, sinking deeper into her touch.

A few tears leaked out of his eyes.

"I'm so sorry about what happened, Hermione. I didn't want any of that. I tried, but I didn't try hard enough," he sobbed.

"Draco, you did more than you should have. I didn't expect you to do what you did for me, to try and stop Bellatrix. She's so evil, she could have killed you. You were so very brave, and I am going to be forever grateful," she told him.

"I'm going to be grateful forever too, Malfoy," Harry said, moving back into the green flames.

"Potter?" Draco questioned.

"Thank you, for trying to save Hermione. She told me that you had changed, but I didn't want to believe it. The day that she told me that you two were in love, I was just so surprised. Draco Malfoy is as good as a killer, I thought. I'm sorry for that, Draco. I saw tonight that you have changed. I'm fighting for you now, Malfoy, to get you out of this dreadful place, to get you out of this Hell. You don't deserve this," Harry told him, before sticking his hand through the fire.

Draco looked down at Harry's hand before grasping it in his own. "Thank you, Potter. You have no idea how much that means to me. And I know that you and Hermione are together now, so I'm just going to-"

"What? Me and Hermione?" Harry interrupted at the same time that Hermione said,  
"Me and Harry?"

"I saw you two in your tent, dancing. You looked so happy together, I just assumed…" he trailed off, not wanting to hear the truth.

"No, no, that was the night she told me about you, Malfoy. She said that she felt so happy that she could dance. There is nothing going on between me and Hermione. She's like my sister. Besides, she only has eyes for you," Harry explained.

Hermione grabbed Draco's hand. "I'm in love with you, Draco. And only you. That hasn't changed, and it will never change," she told him.

Draco squeezed her hand. "I was so scared that your feelings had changed. I always knew that I was never good enough for you," he told her.

"You are more than what I deserve, Draco. I love you too much to ever let you go," she whispered.

"What are you going to do now? You're going to stay safe, right? I can't lose you," he said.

Hermione looked at Harry. They said nothing.

"What are you going to do? Hermione, tell me!" Draco demanded.

"We're going to… we have something to find, and it has to do with Bellatrix," she said quietly.

"No! Hermione, I want you to have nothing to do with her. I came too close to losing you tonight. Don't go anywhere near her!" he practically shouted.

"Draco, I need to do this. I won't be anywhere near her, but I can't promise that it won't be dangerous," she explained.

"She'll be well taken care of, Draco. I won't let anything happen to her," Harry promised.

"It doesn't matter. I won't be there. Hermione, please don't do this. Whatever you're going to do, please don't. Just stay safe," he pleaded.

"Draco, I have to do this. Remember when you told me that you had to carry out your plan? That it was life or death. This is the same thing. I have to do this. Just please trust me," she pleaded.

"I'm not happy about this, Hermione. I don't like this at all. Please be careful," he begged.

"You too. Don't do anything to put yourself in more danger than you already are," she said.

Draco spun around. He heard footsteps. "Someone's coming," he whispered.

"Come on, Hermione," Harry said. "Thank you, Malfoy," he added before pulling his head out of the flames.

"I love you, Draco, be careful," she whispered.

Draco kissed the palm of her hand. "I love you too, more than anything in this world."

He let go of her hand and she slowly pulled her head out of the fireplace, leaving Draco behind.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__Here's the next chapter! It came along a lot quicker than the last one, don't you think? Let me know your thoughts and feelings on this one. Reviews, good or bad, are always welcome. _

_As always, thank you for reading! :)_


	9. Chapter 9

Hogwarts was under attack. The Dark Lord had said, "Give me Potter. You have until midnight."

Potter was in the castle, which meant that Hermione was somewhere in here too, and all Draco wanted to do was find her.

"Draco, let's go find Potter," Crabbe ordered.

"What? I mean, yeah, right. Disillusion yourselves. We don't want to be seen or they'll force us to leave," Draco demanded. He didn't want to be sent away now that Hermione was here.

They searched the castle until they finally found the Golden Trio standing outside the Room of Requirement.

Draco found Hermione right away, with her hands full of basilisk fangs. What was she doing with them? It didn't matter. He had to get her out of here. The Dark Lord was coming, and he would show her no mercy.

Hermione stood and listened to Harry speak to Ginny and Tonks, without actually hearing what he was saying. She knew that this was not the time or place, but all she could think about was Draco. He was around here somewhere, close to her. She could feel him.

Her imagination was running wild with the thoughts of what their life would be like after this war.

She imagined them getting a place together, and getting married. She imagined what it would be like to wake up next to him every morning. This fantasy of hers was so close, she could almost taste it.

And then, he was in front of her, talking to her.

"The house elves, they'll all be down in the kitchen won't they?" he asked.

"You mean we ought to get them fighting?" Harry questioned, outraged.

"No, I mean we should tell them to get out. We don't want any more Dobbies, do we? We can't order them to die for us."

Hermione's jaw dropped open.

She couldn't believe that he was lobbying to save the house elves.

She dropped the basilisk fangs that she had been holding in her arms and ran full speed towards him.

She didn't care who was watching, or what people would think of her, she just went and kissed him full on the mouth.

Two arms wrapped around her, but something was different.

These didn't feel like Draco's strong, protective arms. These wandering lips were not as gentle as Draco's.

Hermione opened her eyes in horror, and gasped. She was kissing Ron! Her imagination had run so far off course and made her think that Ron was Draco. Ron mistook her gasp of horror for that of pleasured, and tried to deepen the kiss.

"Hermione, what are you doing?" shouted Harry, drowning out Draco's strangled cry of pain and torture at the sight.

"Oi! There's a war going on here!" Harry yelled, finally getting Ron's attention.

He pulled away from Hermione and she quickly pulled out of his grasp and stepped away from him.

"I know, mate. So it's now or never, right?" he asked, a goofy grin on his face.

"Never mind that, what about the Horcruxes?" he yelled, before pulling Hermione after him into the Room of Requirement.

"What just happened?" he demanded.

"Daydream gone horribly wrong," she cried, tears leaking out of her eyes.

What had she done? She had betrayed Draco. That's all she could think about. She had betrayed Draco.

"Hermione, it'll be alright. I promise we'll fix this. But I need you to concentrate. Please focus on the task at hand, Hermione. I need you," he pleaded, which snapped Hermione out of her tears and back to reality.

Draco would understand, she kept telling herself.

"And he never realized that anyone could get in here?" Ron asked, incredulous that the Lord Voldemort could be so naïve as to think that he was the only one who knew about the Room of Requirement.

"He thought he was the only one. Too bad for him I've had to hide stuff in my time… this way. I think it's down here…" Harry said.

They walked down the loaded aisles of junk, past the stuffed troll and then they came towards the Vanishing Cabinet that Draco had restored last year.

Harry and Hermione both stopped and stared at it. They looked at each other and shared a sad look.

"What? What is it?" Ron asked.

"Nothing. I was just thinking… Accio Diadem!" Hermione shouted, covering up her lie.

Nothing happened.

"Let's split up. That way we can find it easier. Look for a stone bust of an old man wearing a wig and a tiara. That's the diadem. It's definitely somewhere near here!" Harry said before the three of them took off running in different directions.

Harry ran down twisting and turning aisles of junk, and all the while Draco Malfoy and his cronies stalked him, waiting for the right time to strike.

Draco was crushed. He couldn't believe what he had witnessed Hermione doing. How could he have been so stupid? He had nothing to offer her, he was a Deatheater for Merlin's sake! Of course she would want someone else.

And that changed his thinking. He had wanted to save them, now he just wanted to kill Weasly, and torture Potter. It would hurt Hermione, the way that she had hurt him.

But is that really what he wanted? To hurt Hermione? Did he really want to cause her pain?

"No," a voice in his head said. He didn't want to hurt her. Even after watching her kiss the Weasle, he still loved her, more than anything in this world. She was his one light, his way out of darkness.

"But she can't be that for you anymore…" another voice in his head said sadly.

He stopped thinking as he watched Potter extend his hand towards a statue of a warlock wearing a wig and a tiara.

"Hold it, Potter," he shouted.

He watched Harry freeze before turning around and pointing his wand at him.

"I think that's my wand you have," Draco said, his voice sounding harsh. He shouldn't be taking his anger out on Harry, he did nothing wrong. They had made up, after all these years of hating each other. The effort to become friends was just about to be shot down the drain now.

"Not anymore. Winners, keepers, Malfoy. Who's lent you theirs?" Harry asked, questioning Draco's anger.

This was real anger. He wasn't just faking. Harry's heart fell. There was no way that he could have seen Hermione and Ron just now, was there?

"It's my mother's," Draco answered, venom dripping with every word.

"So, how come you three aren't with Voldemort?" Harry questioned, trying to distract them. He could tell that Malfoy was already distracted. His eyes were distant and sad. He must have seen them.

But he was successful in distracting Crabbe and Goyle. They told him of their whole plan. What buffoons they were.

"Harry? Are you talking to someone?" Ron's voice echoed throughout the room.

"Descendo!" Crabbe shouted, whipping his wand towards the mountain of furniture. The wall of junk began to wobble back and forth, and then after what seemed like ages, it collapsed into the aisle where Ron had been moments before.

Harry called out his name, and as he did so, he heard Hermione scream as another round of objects fell from the junk wall.

"NO!" Harry and Draco shouted at the same time. They both pointed their wands at the wall and yelled, "Finite!" steadying it at once.

Draco turned to Crabbe and grabbed his arm, keeping him from repeating the spell.

"No! If you wreck the room you might bury this diadem thing!" he said as a cover up for the real reason as to why he didn't want Crabbe wrecking this room.

"What's the matter? It's Potter the Dark Lord wants, who cares about a die-dum?" Crabbe questioned.

It had been so hard to manipulate Crabbe and Goyle these days. They were becoming, well not smarter, but less dumb with the rise of the Dark Lord.

"Potter came in here to get it, so that must mean-" but Crabbe cut him off.

Draco saw Harry inching towards the tiara. He must need it for something important, and Draco, however angry he might be at Hermione, wanted to help Harry as much as he possibly could, so he continued to argue with Crabbe so that Harry could get closer to the diadem.

"No, Potter! Crucio!" Crabbe shouted at him. Draco's distracting hadn't been enough. Crabbe had seen Potter move towards the diadem and attacked.

"STOP!" Malfoy shouted at him, but Crabbe didn't listen. He continued to shout at Draco, but Draco wasn't listening. Hermione had just come running out of one the aisles of junk and sent a Stunning Spell at Crabbe, but Draco pulled him out of the way. He was still upset about what Hermione had done.

"It's that Mudblood! Avada Kedavra!" Crabbe shouted.

Draco's mouth dropped open as he watched Hermione dive to the side, out of the way of the killing curse. He may have been angry with her, but not enough to want her dead. Draco could have killed Crabbe on the spot, but luckily Harry was already working on it.

He shot a Stunning Spell at Crabbe, who then jumped out of the way and knocked into Draco, kicking his wand out of his hand, which then rolled out of sight underneath all of the rubbish.

"NO!" Draco roared, all of his pent up anger coming out at Crabbe, who then noticed was shooting jets of green light at Harry.

"Don't kill him! DON'T KILL HIM!" he yelled at Crabbe. He needed Potter alive.

Harry took Draco's distraction and shouted, "Expelliarmus!" causing Goyle's wand to fly out of his hand.

Ron and Hermione started shooting spells at the evil trio, although Hermione made it a point to never aim for Draco, and Crabbe started shooting curses at them.

Draco ducked out of aim of the crossfire of spells, and then he heard a terrifying scream.

"HARRY!" Hermione screamed, but he scream was drowned out by a roaring, billowing noise.

Draco ran out of his hiding place to find that Crabbe had set fire to the room, but not just any fire, cursed fire.

"Like it hot, scum?" Crabbe shouted as he chased after Ron.

They all tried to put the fire out, but it was to no avail.

Draco looked around. They had to get out of there. He ran over to the unconscious Goyle and dragged him along. Crabbe ran faster than any of them, terrified of what he had just done. The two different groups, evil versus light, split up and ran in different directions, but Draco couldn't find the door out. And it was getting dangerously hot in here. Draco was sweating from the heat, and from the effort of pulling Goyle along behind him.

As he ran, he and Goyle got split up from Crabbe, and he heard a scream of absolute pain. Crabbe was screaming. Draco stopped and spun around, but the fire was getting closer.

He hoisted Goyle and himself up on a tower of desks, just in time to see Harry and Ron flying broomsticks, with Hermione on the back of Ron's.

"Harry! It's Draco!" he heard Hermione shout above all the noise.

He watched as Harry dove towards him, and he raised his hand into the air, letting Potter grab hold of it, as Ron and Hermione dove down and hoisted Goyle onto their own broom.

After what seemed like an eternity of flying, they had made it out of the Room of Requirement alive.

Draco rolled off of Harry's broom and lay on the ground.

"Crabbe," he moaned.

"He's dead," Weasley said harshly.

"Ron!" Hermione scolded as she kneeled down next to Draco.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"What do you care?" Draco retorted, and Hermione leaned back, shocked.

But she didn't have time to spit back a retort of her own. Screams and yells echoed down the hallway, and Harry pulled Hermione to her feet as the Golden Trio ran down the hall to jump into the fight.

Draco moaned again, but this time it wasn't for the loss of his friend Crabbe, but for the loss of his love Hermione. She was walking off into the battle, the battle which would change the Wizarding World forever, and he was scared that she wasn't going to come out alive.

And he didn't even get to say goodbye, or tell her that even though she kissed Ron Weasley, he still loved her with all of his heart.

* * *

_**Author's Note:** Here is the next chapter, after much waited time. Again, I apologize for the rather long wait for this one. I just keep getting so busy, and find no time to write. But I'm trying to finish this as soon as I possibly can, not just for my benefit, but for my avid readers as well. Thank you to all who have read and reviewed. Keep those reviews coming, please! I love to know what everyone thinks when they read this._

_Again, thank you for reading! :)_


	10. Chapter 10

It was over. This battle, this feeling of being afraid all the time, the despair of losing loved ones, it was all over. Voldemort was dead. Harry Potter, The Boy-Who-Lived, The Chosen One, had killed him. Finally.

Everyone was sitting together in the Great Hall. The House tables were set back up, but no one was going by them now. Everyone was just huddled together, comforting each other.

Everyone except the Malfoy family, who were huddled together at the corner of the Slytherin table. Draco was resting on his mother's shoulder, tears flowing down his face. His parents thought that he was sobbing over the loss of the Dark Lord when he was really sobbing over the loss of Hermione.

Images of the last battle flashed through his head. Right after Hermione had left him to go fight, Draco had stayed lying on the ground for a few moments more. Then he got up and chased after her, only he didn't know where she went.

He ran around the grounds during the entire battle looking for her. He supposed he must have looked like a coward who was running away from the fight to everyone else, but he didn't care. His one care was Hermione and her safety.

He found her in the midst of the crowd well after midnight. He watched her face the entire the time when the Dark Lord came out of the forest with his followers, revealing that he had killed Harry Potter. Draco's heart dropped into his stomach at the sound of those words. He watched Hermione, who tried to charge at Voldemort, only to have Ron hold her back.

He then watched as Neville Longbottom ran out towards them, had the Sorting Hat put on his head, and burst into flame. Then he pulled a gleaming silver sword out from the hat and stabbed Voldemort's snake. The crowd of onlookers charged at Voldemort and his supporters, starting the battle again.

It moved inside the castle and Draco tried to get to Hermione, but she was too heavily engaged in battle. Draco engaged himself in whatever fight he could that brought him closer to Hermione.

Then, Harry Potter appeared out of thin air. He wasn't dead. He was alive. And he immediately engaged Voldemort in battle, but only verbally at first.

Draco, along with the crowd that formed around the two of them, listened to what Harry was saying. And he talked about Draco, and Draco's ears perked up at the sound of his own name. He had been the rightful owner of the Elder Wand and hadn't even known it. And then Voldemort shouted the killing curse, and Harry shouted "Expelliarmus!" at the same time, and the jets of light reflected off the other, causing the jet of green light that was the killing curse flying back towards Voldemort. And he was dead. And then there was cheering, and yelling, and everyone was being ushered into the Great Hall as the Deatheaters were rounded up.

And that's where Draco was now, sitting in the Great Hall, knowing that Hermione was only feet away from him, but he wouldn't let himself look at her. He wanted to look at her, wanted to see her smiling face, but he knew that that's what he would not see. She had kissed Ron Weasley. Her smiles were for him now.

And that thought made him cry harder into his mother's shoulder. He felt like a child, but at this moment in time he really was. He was just an innocent child, who had been torn apart by love, and had no idea what to do about it.

He couldn't resist any longer. He pulled his head off Narcissa's shoulder and looked in Hermione's direction.

She was watching him, and by the embarrassed look on her face she had been watching him this whole time.

He glared towards her, and her face widened in shock. He didn't know why, but some invisible force was causing him to get up from his seat, and slowly make his way over to her.

* * *

There he was, the first time she'd seen him in months, not just seen him in the fire place or through eyes that were streaming with tears due to tortured pain, but really seen him, sitting across the room from her. She was so close to him. She could walk over to him right now, sit down next to him, and rest her head on his shoulder.

But there was something keeping her from doing that. Like the fact that his head was resting on his mother's shoulder, and his father was sitting on the other side of him. And the fact that he seemed to be angry with her. But why? He hadn't seen… had he? Hermione gasped. He must have.

She looked over to him again. He looked scared, and sick, like he had been for the past year. She couldn't remember what he had looked like before this all happened. Was he ever healthy looking? She couldn't remember.

She felt horrible just looking at him.

No matter what, all she wanted was for him to be happy. And she could tell just by looking at him that he wasn't. Even though this war was over, and he was free now, he didn't look free. She could tell even from this far away that he was still trapped, trapped inside himself. She knew that he was feeling like an evil person, blaming himself for this war, because that was what he did. He blamed himself for everything.

She just wanted him to feel normal again. That is, if he was ever normal to begin with.

She looked between Draco and Harry.

They were so similar. They both were thrust in to something they didn't want, neither of them really had a family, and they both had always been fighting for their lives. They blamed themselves for everything that was going on around them, even if it wasn't their fault to begin with.

Her heart ached just watching him. She had never really stopped loving him. She had tried, and tried, telling herself that they were total opposites. He was a Deatheater, she was part of the Order. They were evil vs. light, and it would never be able to work out.

But she wanted it to. No matter how much she told herself she didn't want it, she knew that she did. And she had thought about that a lot during this war. This battle had shown her how much she really wanted to be with him.

Hermione could not bring herself to stop staring at him. There were people close by that needed her right now, Harry and the Weasleys, but the only person she had eyes for was Draco.

He looked up, and his eyes flicked directly towards hers.

Hermione's breathe caught in her throat. She didn't mean to be caught by him. She didn't want him to know that she had spent this whole time in the Great Hall staring at him.

She watched as he pushed himself up and out of his seat and slowly made his way towards her. He looked angry.

_He's coming over here!_ Her brain screamed. _What do I do? _

But she had no time to think, because he was standing in front of her right now.

They were both silent as they looked at each other.

"Draco," she began.

"I have one question, and then I'll leave you alone. Why, Hermione? Why did you lie to me?" he cried.

"Lie? I've never lied to you, Draco! What are you even talking about?" she exclaimed.

"Don't pretend like you don't know, Hermione! I saw you! I saw you kissing Weasley!" he shouted, not caring who was listening, or if anyone was listening for that matter.

Her eyes widened. "I can explain that," she whispered.

"I don't even know if I want to hear it," he said while turning away, but Hermione grabbed his arm, preventing him from leaving.

"Well you will hear it!" she shouted at him. "I thought he was you, Draco," she whispered.

"That doesn't even make any sense!" he exclaimed.

"Wait, hear me out, please. Draco, I haven't seen you in months. I have to make due with daydreams and frequent imaginings of you. And I had been thinking about you so frequently that my dreams and reality seemed to mix together. It was a difficult night, Draco, you must see that. I'm tired, things got fuzzy, reality slipped away. I didn't mean anything by it, Draco. You have to know that. I love you, I am _in love_ with you, not Ron. It was a mistake, a horrible, horrible mistake, and I'm sorry for it, you have to understand," she pleaded.

"I don't understand. I don't understand it at all. Hermione, I love you, but you betrayed me. And I don't think I can trust you, I'm sorry," he said before walking away, and Hermione didn't stop him.

That night, Hogwarts was opened to those who didn't want to go home. The Great Hall was laid out with sleeping bags and that's where everyone stayed now.

The Trio lay next to each other, but only Ron was asleep. Harry and Hermione lay awake, talking.

"Harry, can I ask you something?" Hermione whispered.

"Hermione, you can ask me anything," he responded.

"You and Ginny…?" she trailed off.

Harry sighed. "I don't think it's going to work out like I had hoped. I saw her tonight. We talked for a while, and we just have nothing in common besides Quidditch. I realize that… I just liked the thought of her, and the thought of having a girl who loved me for me. But Hermione, she didn't, not really. She saw me as the Chosen One, that's it. And I don't blame her for it. We'll still stay friends, but I don't believe that anything more will happen between me and Ginny," he explained to her.

Hermione rolled over onto her side and grasped her best friend's hand. "I'm sorry, Harry," she said.

"Don't be, Hermione. It's fine. But you know that me and Ginny not working out has nothing to do with you and Draco, right? You two will be able to work things out. Ginny and I weren't in love the way that you two are," Harry told her, sensing the real meaning for asking him that question.

"I don't think so, Harry. He said he didn't trust me anymore," she cried.

"And you told him what happened? The truth?" he questioned.

"I told him, he doesn't believe me. And why should he? I haven't given him any reason to trust me," she whispered, tears leaking out of her eyes.

"Hermione, don't say that. There's no one more trustworthy than you. Don't worry, Hermione, he'll come around. I know he will," Harry told her, giving her hand a squeeze.

After Hermione had fallen asleep, Harry got out of his sleeping bag and made his way through the rows of sleeping people until he found the person he was looking for.

Draco once again looked peaceful as he slept, but that peace was about to be disrupted.

Harry covered Draco's mouth with his hand and whispered, "Wake up," harshly.

Draco's eyes widened and he pulled Harry's hand away from his mouth.

"Come with me," Harry said. "Now," he added fiercely when Draco didn't move. He pulled Draco up out of his sleeping bag and out of the Great Hall.

"Potter, what is wrong with you?" Draco exclaimed once they were out of earshot.

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you, Malfoy? What gives you any reason not to trust Hermione? This is killing her, thinking that she's lost you. How dense do you have to be?" Harry nearly shouted, his hands shaking with rage.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because I saw her snogging Weasley? That's good enough reason for me to call it quits," Draco shouted back.

"Malfoy, you listen to me, right now. Hermione is IN LOVE WITH YOU! Do I have to get that fact plastered to the inside of your skull just for you to remember that? She loves you, more than I've ever seen her love anyone or anything in all these years of knowing her. She doesn't love me, or Ron, or anyone else, just you. It was a mistake, kissing him! You haven't seen Hermione this past year the way I have. This war, and not being able to see you, has taken its toll on her. She made a mistake, and she feels awful about it. But she didn't mean anything by it. She just wants to be with you, but for what reason I don't understand," Harry shouted at him.

Draco just stood there, gaping at him.

"Draco, please. Give her another chance. She deserves that. After all I've put her through, I want her to be happy. And I know that the only person she'll be happy with is you. I hope you take my words to heart," Harry said before he walked back into the Great Hall, leaving Draco standing in the middle of the corridor like he had just had the leg-locker curse put on him.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__Finally, here's the next chapter. This one was tough. I had two different endings for it, but I figured this one was the way to go. As always, please let me know what you think. I love hearing people's thoughts. And thank you for reading! :)_


	11. Chapter 11

"Mother, can I talk to you about something in the library, please?" Draco called out to his mother.

It had been nearly three weeks since the defeat of the Dark Lord. Draco's father was tossed in jail, and he wasn't nearly as mad as he was the last time that his father had been thrown in Azkaban. He supposed he had done a lot of changing since then.

Narcissa walked into the room to see her son slumped over in a chair next to the fireplace.

"What is it son?" she asked, joining him.

"Love. Do you think it can… change a person? Change their ways?" he asked her, not meeting her in the eyes.

"I think it can. Love is a strange thing. When you meet the right person, it can affect you in different ways. I believe love can change you, although it shouldn't have to, or force you to," she told him.

"But let's say you wanted to change, and you did change, and it was for the better? Do you believe that love can really change you? Or is it just tricking you to believe that you've changed, when in reality you're still the same evil person you've always been?"

"Is this hypothetical, Draco?" she asked with a raise of her eyebrow.

"Of course, Mother," he said flatly.

"It has to do with the person, and what they believe, and what they want to be. If they want to change for the better, than they will. But if deep down they want to stay the same, then they will never really change. Do you understand?"

He nodded in response, staring back into the flames.

"It's time to get ready, Draco. We were invited to the ball at Hogwarts. Is that all you needed?" Narcissa asked, standing up from her chair.

"Yes. No, wait, mother!" he called as she turned away from him.

"I think I'm in love. And it's changed me," he whispered.

"Well, I never thought I'd see the day," Narcissa exclaimed as she sat back down.

"Do you… do you feel the way that father does… about good and evil, and blood status?" he asked cautiously, not at all sure at his mother's true feelings in all of this.

Narcissa sighed before saying, "No. I never believed that. But I loved your father, and I followed in whatever choice he made. I believe that everyone's blood is the same, that there should be no discrimination between anyone. I never felt the same way that your father did on any of his views, but I had no choice but to respect him," she told him, and Draco breathed a sigh of relief.

"Mother, I used to agree with everything that dad said, I thought I felt the same way. But I don't, not anymore. I don't like it, I feel different from how I used to. I don't want to be like him," he cried.

"My son, you won't. You are nothing like your father, and you will not turn into him," she soothed him.

"I would like to meet this girl, this one who has changed your life," Narcissa said as she stood up.

"Hopefully you can, tonight. I've made some big mistakes with her. I just hope she forgives me for them," he replied.

"She will, Draco. Just keep your chin up. Good things will come to you," she told him.

At her leave, Draco rushed upstairs to get ready for the celebratory ball at Hogwarts that was being held tonight.

As he was putting on his black dress robes, there was a knock on his door, and his mother walked in.

"I brought you something, for when the time is right," she said when he walked over to her.

She handed him a tiny, velvet box. With shaky hands, Draco opened it, and looked inside.

"It pairs with the necklace I gave you a while back," she told him.

Inside the box was a silver ring, with a decent sized blue topaz stone in the middle.

"You can engrave it to make it personal."

Without saying anything, Draco wrapped his arms around Narcissa's waist in a hug.

She patted his head lightly.

"I'm very proud of you, Draco. You've made all the right choices in life, no matter how bad you thought you were doing. I love you, Draco," she whispered into his ear.

"I love you too, mother," he whispered back, hugging her tighter.

He had never been able to have this kind of moment with his mother before. She had always been standing by Lucius, unable to think for herself. And Draco had never really known what it felt like to have parents who cared about him. This was the first time that Narcissa ever told Draco she loved him. He felt like weeping, but knew that he could not.

Malfoys never cried in front of other Malfoys.

Later that night, Draco and Narcissa were sitting in the Great Hall of Hogwarts, watching the happy faces of those who danced around them. Draco's eyes never left Hermione, who danced with Harry and Ron, as well as the other Weasley boys, and all of her old friends from Hogwarts.

She looked beautiful, as she always did. And he needed to be with her, right now.

"Mother, please excuse me, I have something that I need to do, and I can't wait any longer to do it," he told her, giving her a kiss on the cheek and clutching onto the velvet box holding the ring before getting up from the table and walking over to Hermione, who was once again in Harry's arms.

"May I cut in?" Draco asked Harry, feeling embarrassed, but Harry smiled at him and looked to Hermione, who looked like a fish out of water.

"She's all yours Draco," Harry said, before slipping away from them, allowing Draco to take Hermione into his arms.

He slipped one of his arms around her back, pulling her close, and the other held her hand tightly in his. He looked into her eyes, and they were both unable to look away.

The inability of being able to look into each other's eyes all these months was too much for them, and they were trying to catch up for months of lost time now.

"Hermione, I-" he began, but Hermione interrupted him.

"This better be good, Draco."

"You know how hard these past few months have been, for the both of us. It was just too much to be away from you," he started.

"I felt that too, Draco, but you don't see me accusing you of never loving me, and running away the first chance I got, now do you?" she threw out, and Draco shook his head.

"I know, and I deserve that. I've treated you horribly, and you don't deserve to be treated horribly. I just… I always knew that it was impossible and completely out of character for you to love me, so it was just so easy for me to believe that you would want someone else. And it makes much more sense for you to be with Harry Potter, or Weaslebee for that matter. They're good… and I'm evil," he told her.

They had stopped dancing now, frozen in time while everyone else moved around.

"Draco… I love you. YOU, you prat! I don't know why that's so hard to believe. And you're not evil," she said while resting her hand against his cheek, "If you were evil, you would not have felt remorse for your actions last year. If you were evil, you wouldn't have shouted at Bellatrix while she was torturing me. Draco if you were evil, you wouldn't be here now, trying to apologize."

"I really am truly sorry, Hermione. I never meant to hurt you the way I did," he told her.

"I forgive you, just like I will always forgive you," she told him truthfully.

And Draco couldn't hold it in any longer. He didn't care who was watching. It didn't matter what people thought anymore. He had chosen his life, he had changed his ways, it was time he started showing it, not just to Hermione, but to everyone.

He brought his lips down to hers forcefully, in a kiss that nearly stopped the world. And it most certainly stopped the movement in the room.

Everyone was staring at them in awe. The Slytherin Prince was kissing the Gryffindor Muggleborn. No one could believe what was happening.

They resurfaced, coming back up for air, and Draco rested his forehead against Hermione's.

"I love you, Draco, so very much," she whispered to him.

"And I love you, Hermione, more than you could ever possibly begin to imagine. You're the light at the end of the tunnel, my sun that bursts through the everyday rain of my life. While we were away from each other this year, I realized that you are my sanity, my hope, my mind, my soul, you are everything to me. I don't know what I would do without you," he whispered back to her.

"And you never have to be. But you have to ask me, Draco. Please, Draco, ask me to stay. Ask me to stay with you forever. To be yours and only yours for the rest of our lives. I need to hear the words, to know that you truly mean them this time," she told him forcefully.

Draco looked over to his mother, who surprisingly was smiling at him and nodding in encouragement. He then looked through the faces of the crowd, his eyes searching for Harry's.

And silver connected with emerald, and the emerald eyes were telling him that he knew exactly what to do now.

With a deep breath, Draco pulled the velvet box out of his dress robe pockets and opened it up.

"Hermione, please stay with me. I love you, and I will for the rest of my life, never will a day go by that I don't love you. I know we're young, and this doesn't have to be an engagement ring, it can just be a promise ring. I promise to love you, and only you, with no more doubts, until the day I die. Will you be with me, Hermione? Will you stay with me?" he asked while taking the ring out of its case and holding it out to her.

Tears were threatening to pour out of her brown eyes. And looking back on this day, Hermione could truthfully say that she had never been happier. Not when she got her Hogwarts letter, nor when Harry and Ron saved her from the troll their first year and they became best friends, nor when Harry defeated Voldemort, giving the wizarding world its freedom again. No, none of those days would ever match up to the happiness she felt on this day.

"Yes. Of course, I'll stay with you. Forever. I love you, Draco, and that is never, ever going to change. I can promise you that," she told him before taking her own course of action and pressing her lips to his.

And when Draco looked back on this day, he would also agree with Hermione; this was the absolute happiest day of his entire life. Well, actually, he could disagree. This was probably the second happiest day of his life.

The first happiest day would have to be when Hermione said, "I do," standing in front of him at the altar, with all of their friends and family surrounding them, wearing a beautiful white wedding dress, issuing their vows of the love of a lifetime to each other.

Yes, looking back on his life, Draco would say that their wedding day was the happiest day for him. But he would also go on to say that any day that he spent with Hermione, after she had sat with him while he cried in the boys lavatory, was a happy day for him.

She was the love of his life, the person who made him see that there were other paths to take than the one that his father had chosen for him.

Without her, Draco would be living in a dark, dark world. But she was his light, she helped him through the darkness, and she always would be that, even after death.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__I really do absolutely apologize for the fact that this story was just so spread out with its postings. But I finally got it finished, and here is the end result. I hope everyone enjoyed it, please let me know what you think. And thank you for sticking with me throughout the whole time I've been writing this._

_As always, thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone who reviewed, and favorited and added me to their author alerts, and added this story to their story alerts. Just a big thank you to everyone!_


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